Industry Indicators - Good, Bad & Ugly

[Messenger]

Nice money but 'the public voting in the field' seems like a gimmick BUT it could be a sneaky way of guaranteeing 10 Aussie starters

[arlington]

HRV don't seem to care much about small fields, they just want as many races as possible even if they only have 6 runners. Many of the 6 horse fields have 1 scratching so most end up with 5 runners. I suspect people may be nominating horses just to make sure there is enough for a race then scratching when fields come out.

It may appear that way Rick but pretty sure there would be sticky notes everywhere with the number 8 on them. First aim would be to have a third place dividend. I'd also imagine many participants might voice their disappointment when they've accepted but races don't get up.

Which way would you go - give up a racing slot through the day/night because we end up with a field of 5. Plenty of stuff to fill that space, would we get the slot back if they started betting on Ice Road Truckers?

[Dot]

Nice money but 'the public voting in the field' seems like a gimmick BUT it could be a sneaky way of guaranteeing 10 Aussie starters

The public get to vote from the list of nominations for 10 spots out of 14, the remaining four being allocated by race officials. With the potential for one fan to win $500,000 if they “win” the horse they vote for and it goes onto win the race that’s a pretty appealing gimmick Kev. I don’t imagine any Aussie racing fan will be voting for any other horse then Winx!

I don’t doubt that Melbourne are trying to ensure Winx’s swansong is in Melbourne and this is also payback for the Everest encroaching on the Melbourne Spring Carnival but you have to say it is a new way and likely to be very successful in Racing interacting with its existing and potential new fan base.

This race, one fan for doing nothing more then casting a vote can win half a million dollars, that is the same money that a whole field after 3 heats and actually years of preparation will divide amongst them for the ID final.

[Messenger]

I didn't read it all. It will no doubt be an appealing gimmick but a gimmick just the same. I would guess that there is more chance of no payout than is.

[Dot]

Not sure what you mean Kev, I’ve no doubt the organisers have every intention for the fans to get a share of the spoils ( my error earlier) looks like it is split into first, second, and third, do you think they would prefer to alienate fans by seeking not to distribute the fans share? Of course like in any “lottery” only limited participants can win, leaving many others to miss out if that’s what you mean?

Seems a pretty successful “gimmick”, Japan has been racing two “All Stars” races on a very similar public vote for part of the field selection from Japanese horses with the remainder of the spots allocated to foreign horses for around 60 years.

[aussiebreno]

If they manage to get Winx they wont have a full field

[Messenger]

Not sure what you mean Kev, I’ve no doubt the organisers have every intention for the fans to get a share of the spoils ( my error earlier) looks like it is split into first, second, and third, do you think they would prefer to alienate fans by seeking not to distribute the fans share? Of course like in any “lottery” only limited participants can win, leaving many others to miss out if that’s what you mean?

Seems a pretty successful “gimmick”, Japan has been racing two “All Stars” races on a very similar public vote for part of the field selection from Japanese horses with the remainder of the spots allocated to foreign horses for around 60 years.

I get it now. I was thinking IF they win the horse they voted for meant you could win any horse in the lottery (my bad)

[arlington]

We should be thankful the announcement wasn't next week. Perhaps the two Vic chairmen lunched during the Spring carnival

[gutwagon]

It may appear that way Rick but pretty sure there would be sticky notes everywhere with the number 8 on them. First aim would be to have a third place dividend. I'd also imagine many participants might voice their disappointment when they've accepted but races don't get up.

Which way would you go - give up a racing slot through the day/night because we end up with a field of 5. Plenty of stuff to fill that space, would we get the slot back if they started betting on Ice Road Truckers?

I think it shows they need to be doing something about horse numbers. Encouraging people to breed or import horses needs to be the number 1 priority for the next few years.
What have they done for breeders ? Waived the registration fee for foals seems to be all that has been done. And it's not clear if that is just a one off.
They increased the import fee a while back so that is not helping.
They need to offer a bonus payment for every foal registered for the next 5 seasons . And other type of incentives.
They need to stop people leaving the industry .

[Dot]

The waiving of the foal registration fee was announced as a one off way too late to result in the conception of any additional foals last season, and it appears that if there is to be an announcement that it will be continued that will also be too late to result in additional coverings. Combined with a policy from APG that prevents some breeders from utilising an industry owned sales vehicle for their yearlings and ongoing drought conditions in the north of the state I can only see a significant further drop in foal numbers next year, yet so far there has only been silence from HRV on policies to increase foal numbers.